Kejriwal writes to LG about Atishi hoisting flag on I-Day; BJP says rule doesn’t allow

Jailed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written to the lieutenant governor, saying Cabinet minister Atishi will hoist the national flag on his behalf at the state government’s Independence Day function, the AAP has said, even though the LG’s office denied receiving any communication.

However, the BJP on Wednesday (August 7) hit out at Kejriwal over the issue, arguing that the national flag protocol says only the chief minister can hoist the tricolour. BJP leaders said the AAP supremo should make Atishi the chief minister by resigning from the post.

Kejriwal is lodged in Tihar jail in connection with a CBI case linked to the alleged excise policy scam even though the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in the money-laundering case related to the same “scam” registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Denial from LG office

“Kejriwal has written to (Lieutenant Governor VK) Saxena from jail, saying that Atishi will hoist the tricolour in his place on August 15,” the AAP said.

A Raj Niwas official said, “…it is clarified that the LG secretariat is not in receipt of any such communication [regarding flag hoisting on August 15] whatsoever”.

Every year, the Delhi government’s Independence Day function is held at Chhatrasal Stadium, and the chief minister addresses the gathering.

AAP leaders “anarchists”

Slamming Kejriwal, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the letter written by the incarcerated chief minister to the lieutenant governor regarding the flag hoisting on Independence Day “proves” that the AAP and its leaders are “anarchists” and would remain so.

According to the national flag protocol, only the chief minister is allowed to hoist the flag in the states, Sachdeva said. “Perhaps, the framers of the Constitution and the national flag protocol never imagined that one day, there would be a stubborn chief minister who would not resign even after going to jail,” he added.

“LG will hoist flag”

“If the chief minister is unable to hoist the flag, then traditionally, the lieutenant governor of Delhi will hoist the flag. From 1991 to 1993 and in 2014, when there was no chief minister in Delhi, the lieutenant governor hoisted the flag,” Sachdeva said.

If Arvind Kejriwal wants his minister Atishi to hoist the flag, he should trust her and resign, allowing her to take the oath as chief minister, he added.

(With agency inputs)